Are YouTube instructional videos ultimately detrimental to your game? Another drill.

[NotSoSmoothSwinging]

I used to have a big problem with watching any and all of these videos. I’d have so many different ideas to try on the range that I’d forget just about all of them and get frustrated. Now I just watch Monte’s Efficient Swing and some stuff on the mental aspect. I think the biggest problem with YouTube golf is there are so many different instructors that teach differently. If you could stick with just one channel then maybe it wouldn’t be as bad, but I know I’d just jump around to other channels and try their stuff. If I could recommend one thing to watch on YouTube, there’s a series on the mental game by a channel called Scratch by 50 (I think?) that doesn’t talk about swing mechanics. Just the process that good players follow.

[chipa]

19 hours ago, Elkhair said:

Dude. you say this in every thread and it is not a good take at all. If a golfer does something wrong, they actively need to think about it to fix it. 

With a technique that is based on forces driving the direction of the downswing then it's not necessary to manually try to adjust the path of the downswing. It's the same principle of pointing a stretched rubber band where you want it to go, 100% of the time it will start on the path in the same direction where the force is applied. The golf swing can also use this principal.

Edited March 14, 2023 by chipa

[ezra76]

17 hours ago, Barfolomew said:

If you lined up the best 100 instructors and they all gave you swing advice..... you gonna use it all?

 

That's why you've got to be in charge of your swing and dont hand the reigns over to no one..... unless you're completely useless then by all means

Absolutely.

 

I've been to 3 different instructors and all 3 had something completely different to have me work on.

 

Youtube can be useful for sure but it's more of a reference than actual instruction for me. Honestly, if I need help I'd rather post on here or on a Facebook group I'm on to get a few opinions and go from there to look up some drills.

 

The biggest thing is, it's ultimately on you to do the work and dig it out of the dirt. The latest trend is all the shallowing stuff going around and they love to pick these most extreme cases of bowing and shallowing, like this is what you "have to do". 

 

A big thing for me is finding someone similar to you to reference. Personally, I'm 6ft. 190. Pretty good shape. Long legs with high butt and larger than average hip structure (36x34 for me). Broader shoulders and thinner lower legs. I was made for more speed with a decent amount of power behind it. 

 

My point here? I'm not going to be looking at swings of a little 5'7" guy for reference. I'm looking at guys like obviously Tiger 1st then Jack, Sam Snead, Freddy Couples, Scottie Scheffler. All of whom do not have a drastic shallowing move. Tiger moved to more shallow so I tend to stay on his 2000 and before swing to reference. Freddy is gaining popularity in my swing work a lot right now.

 

 

[RmoorePE]

15 hours ago, Golf_Goof said:

 

That has less to do with YT and the quality of advice - and more to do with assuming a swing change can yield positive results in 4 hours (unless the video also made that claim).

In this case I thought it might be my driver setup. Which it was, but unfortunately in the time spent messing with my driver set up, something bled into my irons and I am currently getting them back to form. 

[Barfolomew]

On 3/14/2023 at 4:50 AM, ezra76 said:

A big thing for me is finding someone similar to you to reference.

 

Exactly.  Self taught and know what I like and trust it too so when I see an instructor who says things that jive with my swing I'll see if they got stuff I can use. 

 

Ive got a strong grip with a low take away and short back swing.  When I saw Shawn Clement on YouTube promote a strong grip with examples from baseball, hammer and axe use... it gave me even more confidence to own it cause basic physics and other activities supports a strong grip cause as an athlete it feels completely natural to grab it like that

 

 

Edited March 17, 2023 by Barfolomew

[blazman11]

I tell everyone who is new or somewhat new to golf to stay far away from YouTube unless you are looking for setup posture or where in the hands to grip a club. I then tell them to book lessons with a local guy who will make the game 1,000x more enjoyable for you. 
 

good teachers are so hard to find. I’ve literally had instructors read out of the Ben Hogan manual. I’ve had another guy say there is nothing he can teach me (when I’m firing 90’s). The local guy I referenced is the only person I’ll let touch my swing now. He’s not about re-inventing the wheel. He takes what you have and refines it. And the way he instructs along with the drills he provides take the analytical portion of the mind out of it. 
 

‘Every other year or so I fall apart and within 4 lessons I’m playing great (for me, 4 handicap who can’t putt) again. Everyone I’ve sent him to comes back playing the best golf they ever have.  I’ve gone down the YT black hole trying to self diagnose and it does much more harm than good. I hate paying $250 for a book of lessons but I get so much more enjoyment out of that money vs the frustration and wanting to quit forever after watching YT

[Warrior42111]

Could youtube or other quick fixes work, yes. 

 

The big catch is most of us do not have  proper swing diagnostic abilities, and even more of a reason we hate or are unable to really dig to the root cause. Sure one may cast the golf club, but why why why? The could be a single reason or a chain of reasons, and until you fix the root problem you'll have a poor end result.

 

For example non golf

 

Final reports are late...why....engineering drawings were late.......why......project scope changed.......why.... design change allowed late.....why....sales accepted change out of process

 

So here it does matter how much you work all the other teams to improve etc, if that root cause isn't fixed the same thing will happen

[MrHateCoffee]

On 3/13/2023 at 12:21 PM, JunkerJorge said:

I really wish YouTube would crack down on this swing misinformation and disinformation. There are so many swing conspiracy theories out there....

I think a better alternative is to mandate that the people who comment “Thanks ___ I took this tip to the course and ive never shot better!” come back 3 months later and tell me us if they still feel the same. I guarantee most have abandoned it and moved on to the next hot tip

[Hilts1969]

It's a pretty decent video to be honest and isn't anything radical that should get anyone into too much trouble. Similar to the Rory/amg drill with the added comment on the shoulder movements and right arm/pitch of the shaft.

 

To much you tube trawling is a bad thing though without doubt.

[tm3]

I'll offer a somewhat contrary opinion, while agreeing that a good instructor is valuable.  The problem is in finding a good instructor.

 

I counted it up and in my golfing life I've had live lessons from a dozen different instructors and one online lesson.  Two of the live instructors gave me some valuable info.  The rest either provided nothing useful (meaning a net waste of time and money), or they provided something detrimental.  The last one was so bad it took me a long time to recover any semblance of a swing.

 

Several friends are taking lessons from who seems to be the latest "hot" local instructor, and they love her.  I've played with a couple of them and I see no improvement.  When asked what they are working on, one said she learned that she needs to keep her head down and the other said that he learned that his problem is that he doesn't keep his left arm straight.  Each dose of this wisdom is $80.

 

My best instruction has come from books, video (including You Tube), and of course the forum here on WRX.

[Jeselnik]

On 3/12/2023 at 10:03 PM, PAndaemonium89 said:

We've all been down the rabbit hole for a "quick fix" when we know in reality that golf is a very difficult game and there's no such thing. Covid caused an explosion of youtube/FB/IG videos of people claiming fixes to the most common problems of golf. You fix one thing then damage another, ultimately never really improving. PGA pro lessons address YOUR issue seeing YOUR swing, and cannot be replaced by internet youtubers.

 

This leads me to my current problem and finding the following video:

 

My issue for years was the uncommon "late release." I have no issue coming in from the inside, but the pulling of handle toward target led to pushes, blocks, toe shots, thin shots, and flipping. I left face open for a long time and never really rotated the club around. I've been working on my golf coach to get me to square the club and felt this forceful,  internal rotation with trail arm. I like to take what I learned from him and see if there are different ways of explaining the same thing. Of course, I came across the video and EUREKA!, club face is square, beautiful high draws + 10yards distance. The feel of rotation is there. Is this another red flag video that may lead me to start casting? any other pros here to weigh in on this drill?

Most of the talk is about side effects and not stuff that matters.  “The mysteries of the golf swing fade away when right arm participation is understood.” and “hands are the command post.”  - Homer Kelley, The golfing machine.

 

JNIK

Edited March 17, 2023 by Jeselnik

[Fairways_and_Greens]

On 3/13/2023 at 9:21 AM, JunkerJorge said:

I really wish YouTube would crack down on this swing misinformation and disinformation. There are so many swing conspiracy theories out there....

Do your own research maaaaan. 

[JunkerJorge]

2 hours ago, Fairways_and_Greens said:

Do your own research maaaaan. 

I’ve already flagged all those stack and tilt guys to be taken off of social media. 

[argee1977]

On 3/17/2023 at 12:22 PM, Jeselnik said:

Most of the talk is about side effects and not stuff that matters.  “The mysteries of the golf swing fade away when right arm participation is understood.” and “hands are the command post.”  - Homer Kelley, The golfing machine.

 

JNIK

 

I don't think there's that much disinformation, it's just either a teacher who wants to have their own niche, so purposely explaining it differently, or teachers using their 'feels' and 'explanations', i think they just teach different parts of the same thing and it's confusing, example being the 'slow the arms' or hold them back, like what i've seen from Gankas or Larry Cheung, then you have the fire the arms down like Pete Cowen, Athletic Motion, etc, both look like complete opposites, but i just see them focusing on different parts and different issues.

 

In short, it's just an absolute minefield, only time i focus on youtube fixes is after a lesson where i've been told to go away and focus on a certain issue.

[bcjim]

On 3/13/2023 at 11:43 AM, otto6457 said:

Self diagnosis via YouTube is often more accurately described as Self delusion.  The current "cool teacher" describes the latest "cool swing fix" and suddenly millions of golfers have the exact same problem that needs this fix.

 

It's actually sort of bizarre.

Exactly. Prime example.."early extension ". I'm not saying it's not a thing but I think I went years without hearing the term and now it must be google's #1 golf keyword. Every single golf guy on YT has been on a year long bender of EE remedies. 

[iacas]

11 hours ago, bcjim said:

Exactly. Prime example.."early extension ". I'm not saying it's not a thing but I think I went years without hearing the term and now it must be google's #1 golf keyword. Every single golf guy on YT has been on a year long bender of EE remedies. 

 

I feel like we've been talking about EE for like 12 years. I'm pretty sure I saw a TPI video on Golf Channel like 15 years ago which talked about how EE was a result of not having enough range of dorsiflexion in your ankles.

[bcjim]

Interesting lower body action. Does most of that swing on his lead toe.

[Luckydutch]

I've made more progress from advice on this forum and lessons than I have from YouTube videos, no doubt. I've learnt that golf is about match-ups so what's a great fix for one player doesn't work for another. This is the failing of many YouTube instructors as they fail to acknowledge that.

 

I think Athletic Motion Golf videos where they show gears data can be interesting but only if you appreciate that granular detail. For many, I can imagine that would be information overkill.